A Toddler at the Beach

Imagine lugging your squirmy, loud, completely-without-boundaries-and-prone-to-running-off toddler to a vacation destination surrounded by people and drowning hazards. Sounds fun, right?

That's what I thought at first, too.

Three weeks ago, Mr. Go, Babs and I took a little drive to Gulf Shores, AL. I haven't written about it (or anything else for two months) because I am the human equivalent of a bag of garbage. So here's how it went:

You know what? Babs loves new places. New people to look at. New things to do. (Sand? Seashells!? Putting sand and seashells from one bucket into another?!? GOLD.)

Plus I had backup. The whole reason we took this trip is because my Aunt was renting a condo for the whole month of February. So since she was down there, my Uncle decided to go and rent his own place and make it a lil vaca. And while we were there ANOTHER one of my Aunts came to visit.

wrapping Uncle Hulk around her little finger

Also Mr. Go has a cousin who lives there, and so his Uncle and Aunt were there vacationing since January.

So we had lots of family time. It was awesome. Everybody couldn't wait to get their hands on Babs. I hardly had to touch her the whole time (except when there was a dirty diaper involved. typical).

Since it was so early in the vacation season, things weren't all that busy. There were just lots of snowbirds going to happy hour and having early dinners. And since it was chilly, we only went swimming one day. Babs wet her feet in the ocean and got up to her waist in the pool. It was very exciting.

being passed around the lunch table like a tray of tapas

We found out that women of a certain age are all 'Gamma' to Babs, which delighted them all to no end. Babs adored all of her Aunts and most of her Uncles, probably because they had no reservations re: letting her watch as much T.V. as she wanted and giving her questionable toys that mean ole Mom and Dad had deemed too dangerous. They were like Grandparents in that way, except worse.

Babs. Loved. It.

We spent a lot of time eating, and talking about where to go for our next meal. Mr. Go was incredibly excited about eating sea food for breakfast lunch and dinner. I was slightly less excited, but enjoyed most of it, if only for the experience and making Mr. Go happy by eating oysters with him. But I did very much enjoy these crab legs and Mr. Go's lesson on how to eat them.

Aside from visiting and trying to coordinate 8+ people and a baby for meals, we took a nice walk at the Gulf State Park, where there are miles of paved trails alongside the water. We spotted a couple turtles and apparently there's a three-legged gator named Lefty who lives a few miles up that you can go see (but we did not).

taking a walk at the lovely state park

Going to the Zoo

Zoos are so much fun. Anywhere we go, we'll definitely hit up the zoo. Gulf Shores had a cute little zoo where you could actually feed the animals. Not the cool ones, like the bear or the tigers, but you could feed goats, kangaroos, llamas, ponies, ducks and deer.

I didn't know if she'd do it, but Babs was fearless and frankly it was alarming. You know how goats are in the petting zoo, they'll swallow your hand if they think you have a piece of food in it. And Babs was just shoving her hands at them like, go on take it! She didn't care. I was a little concerned about losing my digits, but that girl didn't know any better. Which is good; I hope she keeps most of that fearlessness.

The coolest outing was Alligator Alley. I mean, it was way overpriced for what it was; you go and look at alligators, but it was also super rad. It was a cold day, so they weren't feeding the gators, but it also meant that we were the only people there (a bonus for any outing).

We saw tiny 5" baby crocs, all the way up to terrifying 11' nightmare-inducing monsters. Walk the boardwalk in the swamp and get within mere feet of modern day dinosaurs.

pretty sure this one was stalking Babs

You could also hold the dinosaurs alligators. This little dude was about as old as Babs:

Mrs. Tell is made of steel and couldn't wait to get her hands on a gator

don't let that easy smile fool you, the man was terrified

The Travel

It was only a 8.5 hour drive from Arkansas to Gulf Shores, and we did it during the day so Babs was awake most of the time. On the way there she decided to give mom a hard time and not nap very long, so I chafed my underarm twisting my arm back around to hold her hand and give her toys and food. 

She was pretty good, though. We stopped a couple times to let her stretch her legs, and otherwise she played with toys and was occupied with little snacks.

On the drive back she slept a lot more, having been worn out by a week of playing with loving Aunts and Uncles. Still though, having movies and games loaded on your phone is a lifesaver. (The Fisher Price apps --the ones that say no in-app purchases-- are Babs' favorite.) 

Sometimes FaceTime with Grandma is the most useful. If you're lucky like we are, she might read your little one some books and keep her occupied for up to 30 minutes. This is where Guided Access comes in handy so she can't hang up or exit whatever app you want her to play with.

The extended-family time we got on this trip meant a lot to Mr. Go and I. It's strange being able to relate to your Aunts and Uncles as adults; it changes the dynamic of your relationship a little. But in a good way.

I count my Aunts amongst my friends now, and am grateful for the means to spend this time with them, so Babs will know her great-Aunts and Uncles and have a relationship with them. 

I'm also grateful for having a place to crash for a beach vacation.